Modern motor vehicles are equipped with numerous vehicle subsystems that are designed to increase the comfort and safety of drivers and passengers. For example, a vehicle can include an anti-lock braking system, a traction control system, a speed control system, and/or a vehicle stability enhancement control system. In turn, each subsystem can include numerous electrically-operated hydraulic actuators that use electric coils to move plungers and thereby direct hydraulic fluid to and from vehicle components such as a brake.
As recognized herein, many such control systems use, as input parameters, position signals, e.g., the angular position of the steering column. Accordingly, sensors have been developed to generate signals representative of the positions of various vehicle components for input to, e.g., a control processor such as an engine control module (ECM). As further recognized herein, many of these sensors require contact between moving parts of the sensor, which wears out the sensor. Other sensors are susceptible to temperature-induced errors, and to manufacturing variations that also cause errors in sensor output. Further, many sensors require rather involved calibration, and can experience degraded performance under conditions of vibration and contamination, both of which are factors in vehicle applications. With the above considerations in mind, the invention is provided.